My mind was rudely snapped back into reality by Sarge’s voice. The nightmare banished and forgotten in moments. Though I knew it was that same damned nightmare I’d been having for months. Every night it was either that never ending horror, or blissful nothingness. It seemed the world wanted to go the cruel route today.
 
“WAKE UP RECRUITS!! GET UP!! ON YOUR HOOVES, LET’S MOVE IT!! I WANT EVERYPONY IN FRONT OF THEIR BUNKS BY THE TIME I REACH THE END OF THIS ROOM!!”
 
It sounded like he was right into my ear the entire time I was scrambling off the bed. But when I got to the front of my bunk he was actually near the other side of the room. Sometimes, I really hated magic.
 
He reached the end of the room and turned around, “EVERYPONY, ATTENTION!”
 
Everypony around me quickly drew themselves up into stiff standing poses, bringing themselves up to their full height. I quickly followed, not wanting to be singled out by mister poker face.
 
Sarge started making his way back down the length of the barracks, critiquing the other recruits as he went, “STIFFEN THOSE SHOULDERS! GET THOSE HOOVES TOGETHER! LOCK GET YOUR ASS DOWN UNLESS YOU WANT ANOTHER WEEK OF LATRINE DETAIL! CHIN UP! QUIT YOUR SLOUCHING!
 
I just kept my eyes forward and posture straight. Which had me looking right at Quicks. He gave me a wink, to which I just narrowed my eyes slighty.
 
“EYES FOWARD DAYS!”
 
Ha! Sounds like miss Chattermare was day dreaming again. Then Sarge stepped in between Quicks and I looking at me, and I looked at him. We were probably like that for only a few seconds but it felt like a lot longer. And then he just moved on to the remaining recruits.
 
“ALRIGHT RECRUITS!” Again with the yelling in the ear. “EVERYONE GIVE ME TEN LAPS AROUND THE COMPOUND THEN MEET ME ON THE PARADE GROUNDS FOR YOUR MORNING TRAINING! DISSMISSED!!”
 
Great, more running. I wondered when I would get to fly?
 
 
***************************
 
I got my answer after those ten laps. Everypony was divided into groups based on species and put through a large series of exercises designed specifically for each species.
 
My exercises were all wing based, designed to build strength, stamina, endurance and speed into our wings. Some of them were variations of normal flight exercises, but a lot were things I’d never heard of before and looked pretty ridiculous. And they hurt like a bitch! They worked muscles I didn’t even knew I had. And they had us practice until my muscles were far past screaming for relief.
 
That relief came with a short break. But then they started the real training. They gave each pegasus a pair of wingblades. Swords wielded by pegasi affixed to the wings. Looks like some of my failed childhood pursuits were about to become reality. I might have felt some joy at that, but the pain in my muscles overpowered any sense of thought.
 
After everypony had their blades secured they walked us through eight steps that took our wings through every motion we’d need to make during combat. It was incredibly awkward, but they said it’d feel more natural once we got into the air. But first they had to be sure we had the motions committed to muscle memory. So they ran us through the motions, then they did it again, and again, and again, and again! One, strike! Two, Block! Three, parry! Four, counter! Other wing. Five, strike! Six, block! Seven, Parry! Eight, counter! Repeat.
 
While we practiced there was no room for miscellaneous thoughts, but during our breaks I noticed something odd. That pony with the armour was training with us. All the enchantments were active and everything, and they were somewhere between a normal mare and stallion in height so I couldn’t really guess their gender. It was just so odd, why would a recruit be wearing a full set of armour now? Why were they hiding their identity? Why didn’t they just show themselves?
 
I realized again how morbidly curious ponies could get about a mystery. And if it was causing me this much thought, what were other ponies thinking about this mystery pony? I was again thankful I still had both my cutie marks mostly unscathed.
 
After what seemed like an eternity the endless motions finally stopped. It was noon, morning training was done and we were sent back to the barracks to receive our armour.